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The World
=The Story Begins= The world is crowned by a vast wall of mountains, surmounted by an impenetrable barrier. This barrier seems to be off center from both polar and magnetic north, but is a perfect circle about the size of the arctic. On the "inventively" named continent "Frost", near the city of Rimevoice, there has stood for all of recorded history a gap in the mountains, and an exposed section of the magical barrier called The Icewall. It resisted all efforts to pierce it, the land beyond it lost and obscured to all but the most powerful wizards and clerics. Now that wall, with no warning or alarum, has fallen, and the world at large has risen up to seek knowledge and information from the lands beyond. Your character can be a curious native of Rimevoice, a scholar seeking information, a treasure hunter seeking glory, or anyone who seeks to know what has been revealed. =Geography= The World The world is about the size and density of earth, but it orbits a gas giant. Pearly blue-white, with tinges of green and salmon in its vast weather systems, it is called the Great Mother by most. There are six other moons that pass by at various intervals. As long as they're visible they're clearly larger than stars or planets, and at some approaches appear significantly larger than Earth's moon. A day on the world is pretty close to 24 hours. The World whips around the Great Mother in about 60 days, and about 6 of these lunar cycles happens during one cycle of the great mother about the sun. The World has more dry land than earth (about 40% of its surface is dry land), but it is parceled into smaller continents. Frost Frost is a large-ish (by this world's standards), mountainous, triangular sub-continent, and despite the name, most of it is south of the 55th parallel, and it's fertile valleys are only iced over in the winter. Rimevoice is an independent city founded by an ancient human-elf-dwarf alliance. The days of true alliance are long gone, and racial tensions are at a constant slow simmer, however people from most of the world would be shocked at how harmonious they are. For obvious reasons, the city has probably the highest concentration of half-elves and muls than any other place in the world. It also has a large portion of the city dwelling goliaths, and a lot of gnomes. Though not citizens, there are sizable communities of halflings nearby. Rimevoice pays tribute to the small kingdom of the Winter Lords for protection, but more to be left alone. The 12 seas Directly south of Frost is a convoluted tangle of land making up a region called the 12 Seas (use of numeral there strangely traditional). It is a series of relatively long, snaky sub-continents ramified into peninsulas of peninsulas, and on top of that surrounded by rings of smaller archipelagos. Its shape makes it difficult to say authoritatively what is separate land and what isn't. Depending on who's counting, there are 4-7 seas that meet near its center, and 5-7 more seas in the region, but since "The 9-14 (inclusive) Seas" isn't very catchy, 12 Seas has become the de facto general term. It is predominantly occupied by humans in a variety of colors, but there are also many halflings and some other races, though one of the few permanent half-orcish settlements is also here. The total land area is similar to Europe + the northern most countries of Africa. Notable locations: Lagash of the Sea, is often considered the center of scholarship in the entire known world. People come from all over the world to see the "Libraries of Lagash" (such that that's become a set phrase). Akadeimos is the word that refers to a group of universities and other schools in and around the city (which has lead to confusion, where many people might think of Akadeimos as if it were a single specific institution). Larai of the Roses (often just called the Rose City), was once the capital of an empire that controlled most of the 12 seas and even some land beyond. It is a city-state now, and the popular stereotype of its people is as passionate and artistic. It is widely considered the culture/art capital of the 12 Seas. Mellowtide. The largest "country" of elves in the 12 Seas, almost entirely forest and gold elves The name is actually a Commonized corruption of the elven one, which means something like Golden Halls (the word used here has connotations of both "ripe" and rich as in wealthy). The political motivations and aspirations of elven nations puzzle humans. It would not quite be correct to say it's a loose confederacy of city-states and semi-nomadic tribes, but it wouldn't be totally wrong either. Adaxos One of the largest continents on the face of the World. It is some ways to the east of the 12 Seas. It is typically cited in the 12 seas when someone needs an example of a place that's a "little exotic". Most of the non-netherdom orcs and dwarves in the world live here. Notable locations: Okhana is a republic on the shores of a magical lake in the middle of Adaxos, and is populated by a mixture of dwarves and humans that have developed their own culture. They are very serious people, and Okhana has become the example of a mercantile and business obsessed culture. Dwerdelf is a sort of cultural touchstone to Dwarven kind, the place where they first broached the surface, and established one of their greatest castle settlements. Yalt (aka: Lampvast; The Resting Lands) Yalt is a strange empire to the west. Mostly humans, they're obsessed with names, and they trade in slaves, but it is illegal to put them to work. Because it's the closest civilization, people of the 12 Seas will call the entire continent Yalt as well. The people of Yalt do too, but the other human inhabitants of the continent call it Lampvast, and the non-human ones mostly call it the Resting Place (for mythological reasons). Yalt occupies fertile valleys just before a large stretch of desert. After that are salt mashes, and then some forested plateaus. Many elves live west of Yalt, in a semi-tribal existence among the desert, marsh and forest. Genies often visit this continent, and so genesai (relatively) often wander among the elves and the Yaltish. Further to the west are an eternally war-locked series of forest plateaus and river-carved plains. The Netherdom (AKA: Darklands. The Stone Sea. Nimul. Bridge of Dismay. Earth Mansion/Court. Black Prison. Some of these are more names for regions than for the entirety) For whatever reason, caverns and caves carved deeply, whether by natural phenomena or by labor, often form bridges to the Shadow Realms. Thus there are large networks of vast tunnels and chambers, sometimes interconnecting, that lay beneath the lands of the world and are partially in our world and partially out of it. It is an incredibly dangerous place, as there is no guarantee that there even is a true "up", or that following caves and tunnels that way will bring you out to the skin of the world. In fact, a misstep might land you in the Shadow Realms, the Earth Domain, or even at the gates of Purgatory itself. However some brave souls have managed to make a living bringing goods between continents faster than any ship could ever hope to. Dwarves and Orcs originated here, and some populations remain. The Drow were born and remain here after their schism from elf-kind. Citizen Knowledge The technological and social progress present in the world would be considered an anachronistic mixture by us. Heliocentrism (including the fact that the world orbits the great mother) is well known and understood by scholars but its lack of application to daily life means that the average person (speaking on a world wide basis) would be puzzled to hear of it. Guns (though smooth bore only), clockwork, and fairly advanced sail technologies are known. Though I don't imagine it coming up in the story, it's interesting to wonder what societal changes are invoked by the common availability of a 100% safe, 99.9% effective birth control (combined zygote implantation preventative) for both sexes. =Cosmology= Creation The 12 Seas region has long ago evolved a unified pantheon and creation narrative, though it is worshiped differently in different parts. This view has even spread, to a degree, to Adaxos. Here's a version stripped of narrative and poetry: Ord is the All-Father/Mother. Nyx is the outer darkness. Depending on squickiness of the religion, Ord may have given birth to or otherwise created Nyx. (Though there is at least one myth that is the other way around.) Either way, together they gave birth to Khaos and Urus. Khaos is the sea of absolute energy without form; and Urus is the Astral Sea, cold and sterile, perfect form without substance. Their intermingling spontaneously gave birth to the first astrids (astral realms), the first elemental demesnes, and eventually to Gaius, the region between them. By this time, Khaos and Urus had younger siblings and children, and they became the first Gods (favoring Urus), and the first Titans (favoring Khaos). (Some mythologies emphasize that during this time Ord died, and his body became the positive and negative energy planes). Witnessing the great potential of Gaius, the land between them, the gods and titans sought to make use of it, but found their desires to be absolutely at odds with one another. The gods wanted to shape and give form to Gaius, and in so doing created the First World. The titans sought to dissolve the structure of Gaius, to make it a place more like the maelstrom. They fought, and in so doing created strife, good, and evil. And the chaotic evil titans forged the concept of death, and the cracks of the Abyss were opened in the face of primordial chaos. This fresh terror united the gods, and even some of the titans, and they pushed all the rest into the abyss, chaining them to that domain with the creation of Yggdrasil, the Cosmic Tree, which reached from the Chaos to the Astral Sea. The gods had, for the most part, won the war, and even the titans that were left were diminished. But the gods found themselves forever changed by the experience. A new generation came into being, and it was born into a world that had never been without the touch of mortality. Though the gods descended from Urus, this new generation found themselves drawn to every point of the cosmic compass. It was the new generation that truly understood Gaius, and so created in it the material universe, something their forebears could not have done. (The origins of the First World are one of the most disputed points of this theory, some say it was formed spontaneously from Yggdrasil, others that the gods made it first as a prototype and the universe second, or that they made the First World and the universe came from that spontaneously.) Scholars speak of the preceding as the first tier of creation myth, and of the specifics of the creation of the material world as the second. Ironically, the first series of myth seems to been ensconced in legend later than the first, as bards and sages of the heroic age sought out information beyond that given to the races by their patron deities. The second tier of creation myth is significantly more varied, culture to culture, probably because it concerns the creation of the world itself and the separate races and cultures. For example, the Yaltish describe the Great Mother as being born of the four elemental lords (logistics left to the imagination of the worshiper); whereas the people of Larai describe her as a new child of Ord, born into a mortal world. It is mostly humans that originally venerated The Great Mother and based their creation mythology around her; though many other races have taken up the practice. It's kind of hard to ignore something that huge if you live on the surface. Some time before the progenitors of elves had left the First World, and before man had discovered fire, the Great War began. Mortal souls of greatness had arisen, and these fought through the tides of shadows after death and found themselves at the cosmic compass points of the universe, and once there were forged into the outsiders: Archons, Aeons, Demons, et al. (Some mythologies change this around a little, and make the role of the gods in summoning great souls more important) Eventually, this became the War Between Good and Evil. (Before this, the distinction between law and chaos was considered more important, and at this the moral axis took primacy.) Heaven, Nirvana, and Arcadia all fought against Hell, Abbadon and the Abyss, while the other realms had declared neutrality. Structure Chaos (related: the elemental demesnes, Arcadia, Abyss) Primordial, elemental The closest parts of Chaos to the Material are the elemental planes. The rest is a strange and howling void of mercurial energies and substances, getting stranger the deeper one goes. Cracks leading to the Abyss open throughout. The good titans established the Kingdom of Arcadia, a great forest of elemental trees that wanders the Chaos. The souls of mortals judged Chaotic Evil are inhaled by the abyss, whereas chaotic good souls are escorted to Arcadia. Chaotic Neutral souls go wherever the hell they want. The Astral Sea (related: heaven, hell, paragon, axis mundi) A vast empty darkness filled with strange drifting bits of reality, and the Astrids, silvery demi-planes on which the gods dwell. Loose networks have formed based on alignment. Lawful Good gods dwell in a mesh they call Heaven, Lawful Evil in a mesh they call Hell, and lawful neutral gods have established Paragon. The Axis Mundi, a large triangular world rests just above the branches of Yggdrasil that reach into the astral realms. Mortal souls that have been judged lawful go to the pool of souls in the approximate region appropriate, or, if they serve a particular god, directly to their realm. Oceanus (related: Aaru/Summerlands, Nirvana) This is a vast river that seems made of the stuff of the astral sea. It flows mostly through Gaius, and on its borders is a kingdom mostly known as Nirvana, in a region known as Aaru or the Summerlands. It is where neutral good gods dwell, and neutral good souls travel to after judgment. Styx (related: Gehenna, Abbadon) A river that seems to flow both to and from the Abyss. It too flows mostly through Gaius, and on its shores the republic of destruction and desecration has formed, which calls itself Abbadon. Its a region is called Gehenna. Here dwell neutral evil deities and daemons. Purgatory The invention of death created Purgatory, and here is where the souls strong enough to make the journey are judged. Souls who have not chosen an alignment with the cosmic forces may dwell here in the Meadows; and those who have devoutly pursued balance in all things may as well, or more likely find pleasant labor in the courts of purgatory. Shadow Realms (aka Nocht or the Threnody) Shadows are as old as Gaius, and indeed, are said to be a fragment of Nyx. it touches nearly every part of reality. There are several layers to the Shadow Realms: *The Veil (AKA Mir): a thin, featureless place where the World and the World Shadow are both visible. It is here that shades wait the appointed time if they can be raised. If they are a weak soul, or preyed upon by shadowy predators, they may end up losing their identity, and wander into the shadow lands to become shades. *World Shadow (AKA the Echo): Matches the material plane in scale and general features, but those features are echoed in a metaphorical manner. Tombs replace castles, graveyards replace parks, mountains have a more worn down shape, or might just be giant piles of skulls, etc. *Mirror Lands: sometimes in the World Shadow, where there are mirrors in the real world, the Shadow is unaccountably bright, and beyond all, very strange. You risk your sanity staying here long. It is known that there are spells to step through mirrors in these places. *Dead Lands: The Shadow Realms are closely associated with death, and parts of them more than others. This is a region of the deeper shadow that do not echo the real world, and where no-longer-living things make their home. *Deeper Shadow: Shadow touches many places, and this is the shadow between those echoes, an infinite convoluted manifold of pure shadow stuff, fragments of worlds cast adrift in it. It is said you could go nearly anywhere from the Deeper Shadow, even to places that don't have a World Echo. The First World The First World is an infinite untamed wilderness that sometimes has echoes of the real world (eg, enter it from a gate on a mountain, come out on a mountain sized tree, go ten miles south to where a city was, and you're in a giant mushroom field the same size), but is malleable to force of will, and doesn't behave like the real world at all. Other *Gaius (AKA the Aether/Aetherium): No longer really considerable as a distinct place or area. It is the part of the cosmos that isn't quite chaos or astral sea, and that contains the First World, the Universe, Gehenna, Aaru, and maybe Purgatory and the Meadows.) *The Dream: Said to be a ribbon of color floating in the astral sea near the edge of Gaius, ending and beginning in the Shadow Realms. Either dreams as they happen, or cast of fragments of dreams whose owners are done with them drift here. *The Dark Tapestry: Less a "place" and more a concept, one of a space beyond space, of something transcending all the creations of Ord and Nyx. It is said that by staring at the spaces between the stars, people have read or spoken to the Dark Tapestry, and always their discernment bring madness and dismay. *Nyx: it is said that if you travel far enough in chaos or the astral sea, you will reach an infinite sea of blackness thrice deeper than a lack of light. Even gods, outsiders, and "immortal" souls may pass on, and it is said that they pass through this barrier. Certainly, no one has ever passed through it and returned. *The River Lethe: this river flows on the edge of purgatory and the deep shadow. It is said that some are not judged fit to continue to an eternal reward, or that eternal rewards are not and after some strange eon souls must return to the world by immersing themselves in this river to wash themselves of their past life, after which they will be reborn as mortals. The Material World (AKA Primus, the Universe) The real world is the real world, a single infinite universe of galaxies and stars and planets, though there are supernatural phenomena in interstellar space, and some worlds are more or less isolated than others. Outsiders This is just a quick listing of the major types of outsiders in Pathfinder and in this world. First, mortal spirits that are judged to be great enough exemplars of their alignment travel to one of the compass points and are reborn (either individually, or as amalgamations of souls) as powerful beings fused with the energy of that region. For obvious reasons, the descriptions of each is going to mostly sound like a reiteration of that alignment. * Archons. Lawful Good. Order, honor, altruism, matyrship. These are creatures that, from their core, believe that honorable conduct and an ordered society are fundamental prerequisites for lasting good. * Axiomites and Inevitables, Lawful Neutral. Axiomites are born from souls so focused on order above all else that after death they have literally fused with the mathematical underpinnings of form and shape. Inevitables are quasi-robotic beings, constructed by axiomites, fueled by equally obsessed, but probably less intellectual souls. * Devils. Lawful Evil. Honorable in their own way, but utterly exploitative. * Agathions. Neutral Good. By and large their focus is on peaceful co-existence. * Aeons. Neutral. For souls that are literal devotees of balance, between altruism and selfishness, between order and revolution. (Mortals that are neutral from a lack of stance on the moral axes don't become any kind of outsider, no matter how great their soul is.) * Daemons. Neutral Evil. Opportunistic sadists, they trade in souls, and delight in destruction. They are not honorable, but neither do they want to take things apart, at least when those things benefit them. * Azatas. Chaotic Good. Those who rejoice above all in freedom, freedom for all, and sometimes even find themselves defending evil, because what is the meaning of good if it was not made of a choice to not do said evil? * Proteans. Chaotic Neutral. Proteans are not only themselves unfixed in form and temperament, but they destabilize existence by their very presence. * Demons. Chaotic Evil. These are souls that could not stand the sight of structure, even one where they stood at the top and looked down. They even hate slavery, at least where a strong being is shackled by actions of a large group working in concert. It lacks the honest ring of simply overwhelming them with your power and forcing them to do as you will through raw fear alone. In addition, mortals can be reborn as: * Angels, any good; a sort of inter-alignment good initiative. As could be expected by the definitions of the alignments, the kingdoms of Good are altruistic enough to support an initiative that forwards the cause of good above all else, even when it is sometimes not in line with every one of the individual kingdoms' goals. Other beings: * Qlipoth. Chaotic Evil. Native creatures of the abyss, and as old as it is. Some Demons have made tenuous alliances with them, but mostly the Qlipoth seem as aggrieved by their presence as they are by the existence of everything outside of the abyss. They are horrid abominations outside the conception or understanding of mortals, and as such, occasionally associated with the Dark Tapestry. * Psychopomps. Neutral. Psychopomp is a type of role played by many spirits and gods: those who escort the souls of the departed in their journey through the afterlife; but it is also the name of this entire race that serves Purgatory. More than anything else they seek to find the souls of the dead and guide them through the shadow lands to Purgatory where they might be judged. They take direct action against those who would impede the progress of souls. * Genies. Almost always Chaotic, but can be any alignment. A race of spirits that dwell in the elemental planes of the chaos. Some believe that they too are incarnations of mortal spirits, but genies themselves maintain that they are an entirely different category of being. Some myths paint them as a sort of precursor to humanity that could not succeed in the material world, and ended up moving to the elemental. * Divs. Always Evil, usually Chaotic. Genies corrupted by elemental evil, they seek primarily to destroy the works of mortal kind, taking a special joy in corrupting mortals and making them work against each other. * Kytons. Often Neutral Evil but can be any Evil. The worshipers of pain. Unlike daemons, they do not seek the death of things. In fact, they strongly desire mortals to live as long as possible, that they might maximize the agony. They were born in Abbadon, perhaps as precursors to Daemon kind, but mortal souls do not naturally become kytons. Rather, Kytons are known to seek out and transform humans through a process that involves torturing them to death over years. * Rakshasha. Chaotic Evil. Native outsiders that are born of acts of mortal evil so great that they have divine consequences. They use their shape shifting abilities to live in hiding on the material plane, but will establish kingdoms in nearby extra planar areas to coordinate their work to pull society down with them. * Asuras. Lawful Evil. Shrouded in mystery, little is known of these beings, not their age or origins. Some say there is evidence of their activity as early as the creation of the material plane. Some even believe they are a sort of automatic inversion or consequence of the energy used to create it. Because the one thing known about them is that they have an ultimate desire to unmake creation, to the degree of dissolving the entirety of the Material Plane and the First World. * Nightshades. Any Evil, usually Chaotic. Outsider undead, they exist primarily on the Negative Energy Plane, but spread to the Shadow Realms. There are many other beings native to the outer planes (or who embody the outer planes energy despite being partially native to the Material), but these are the most important and dominant groups. Gods Ord, Nyx, Khaos, and Uru are only worshiped by very odd mystery cults. For the purpose of cleric alignment, Ord and Nyx are beyond alignment, and Khaos and Uru are beyond good and evil, but are chaotic and lawful respectively. Of the elder deities, only a few are named in any particular tradition (and some doctrines disagree on who is and is not in the original generation) Nammu. Chaotic Evil. The titan of primordial oceans and secrets, and sometimes of obsessive avarice. She is said to be the mother of all dragons, and is sometimes represented as a prismatic wyrm or sea serpent. She is sometimes conflated with Shub Niggoroth. Shub-Niggurath. Chaotic Evil. Mother of Monsters. Every vile and hideous aberration in the universe supposedly owes its existence to her. of the Cthulhu mythos exists in this cosmology, though some with different names, and aside from Shub-Niggurath, most are appropriately associated with the Dark Tapestry. The World Serpent (Ouroborous). Neutral. said to be the first child of Gaius, a vast serpent that eats its own tail, changing from male to female on a regular schedule. The god of magic in a general and absolute sense. Dunnog. Chaotic Evil. The first evil titan. Inventor of murder, patron of bloody conflict and sadism. There are small groups of chaotic neutral priests that worship his aspect as a warrior: "Bloodshed is sometimes a necessary evil, and in those times, even a good man wants to take tips from the one who invented it." Dingir Im. Chaotic Good. Lord of Storms, and generally the wrath of nature. He is the "ruler" of Arcadia. Horkassa. Neutral Evil. The Oath Breaker. Lady of undeath, queen of daemons, ultimate patron of witches, and others who have traded their humanity for power. Sometimes said to be Dunnog's daughter, sometimes conflated with Salim, possibly because as the patron of undeath, she is the ultimate enemy of Jeru. The Great Mother (Ya, Mayu). Neutral Good. For whatever reason, she is more venerated generally than worshiped directly. She is not even considered the patron of motherhood. Othir. Lawful Neutral. The Lawgiver. Patron of civilization in general. A common candidate as a father deity. Agrotera. Chaotic Good. Lady of Animals, the hunt, and the wilderness. Generally Dingir's daughter. Thesos. Lawful Good. Often daughter of Agrotera. Mistress of agriculture, the hearth, marriage, and sacred laws. Argammon. Lawful Evil. Supposedly the inventer of writing, considered the god of contracts, merchants, theives, messengers, and some evil wizards. Despite his alignment he is not typically considered aligned with Hell itself, or other lawful evil deities. Latrans. Chaotic Neutral. The classic "clever trickster" character of fable. Depending on region his stories have him as a good example of cleverness, or as the ultimate cruel conman. There was a fairly strong strain of mystery cult that venerated Latrans as female and the patron of lycanthropes. This has lead to a popular tendency (though not a majority tendency) in modern times to portray Latrans as a hermaphrodite. Fea Maere. Lawful Good. She is the modern general of the gods, and leads the angelic host. Sort of the goddess of strategy and the technology of war (which occasionally leads to her veneration in some places as the goddess of innovation). Her crow-women advise great leaders, upon whose death, the crow-women will escort them directly to Fea to serve in her army. Jeru. Neutral. Lord of Purgatory, judge of souls, patron of balance. His psychopomps stride the lands of the Shadow Realm to find and destroy the undead and mortals who have discovered any form of immortality (so liches he doubles down on). Famed for being so incorruptible and impartial that his own sister was sentenced to be chained in the heart of Abbadon for betraying the gods during their war. Salim. Neutral Evil. Sister to Jeru. Once the Neutral Lady of Dusk and Harbinger of Peace, she wanted the war between Good and Evil to end so badly that she betrayed Heaven to the princes of Abbadon, leading them through the shadow realms to attack. Now she is insane, and chained in the depths of a bog, her eyes gouged out, and the blood from the wound giving life to her evil avatars. Minhao. Neutral Good. The ruler of Nirvana, god of mercy and compassion, and sometimes of calm seas. Portrayed as a great translucent pearl dragon. Grannus. Neutral Good. Lord of passionate love and the arts. The muses are his daughters or consorts (or both, in the squicky doctrines). Weng Xai. Lawful Good. Lady of culture and literacy. Sometimes depicted as Grannus' consort, or otherwise related to him. In some cultures her portfolio also includes fate and destiny. Especially in this later role she is sometimes depicted as a trio of sisters: triplets, and yet somehow different ages. Domin. Lawful Neutral. Patron of crafts and construction. Has been conflated with one of the most important deities of dwarven kind often enough that he's now almost always portrayed as dwarven. * Asmodeus (The Foreigner). Lawful Evil. The First Prince of Hell, Major General of the armies of devilkind, Father of Slavery, Tyrant of Truth. (I've stolen most of hell's princes from the regular Pathfinder/D&D cosmology.) * Clint (sometimes Uncle Clint). Neutral. The quixotic and mercurial patron of the halflings. He exists in twenty-one simultaneous aspects, male and female, young and old. Some less philosophical sects instead show him as the head of a family of these aspects. * The Elemental Lords. Generally Chaotic Neutral. The Elemental Planes are now ruled by the genies, their original titanic originators dead or dissipated. Some people worship the ultimate rulers of these lands, in particular the Yaltish. * The First Lords (aka the Eldest). Generally Chaotic. Immortal lords of the First World, their power is sufficient that they have clerical worshipers. Depending on the tradition they may or may not be progenitors of the fay, and/or the first beings born in the First World. * Alassa. * Cheesus. Other Cosmologies In a world where creation myths are literally true and gods will occasionally pop down for a chat with their followers, there's not a huge amount of room for variation. It is perhaps a kind of canniness on the part of the gods that leads to the variation in myths about creation of the world itself. One will describe events in the way that most supports and emphasizes their part. Every society has its own myths of their creation and early history. But the first part of the creation myth, the creation of the wider cosmos, is more like a scientific theory than a mythology. Elves actually seem to have a very complex religion more similar to Taoism than anything else. Though they venerate certain patrons of their people, they say they don't worship them, it is more like give and take. Some cynical non-elves say that the supposed inexplicability of their religion is a ploy to make themselves appear superior to non-elves.